1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to servers processing web page description, and more specifically to a method and apparatus for enabling identification of statements requiring additional processing in a web page description.
2. Related Art
Web pages are generally provided on a web server, and can be accessed from a client system, typically using an appropriate web browser software, as is well known in the relevant arts. In general, the displayed content and the user interface provided to a user is specified by several statements, which are together referred to as a web page description. For example, some statements define the layout of the displayed content, the specific fonts used to display specific pieces of text, etc. Some other statements may define a URL to be associated with a specific piece of a displayed portion, the menus to be provided, etc.
Intermediate servers are often present in the path from a web server to the corresponding client systems, and operate to forward a web page description to (towards) the corresponding client system. Examples of such intermediate servers include reverse proxy servers, web crawler, etc., which are also well known in the relevant arts.
Web page descriptions forwarded by an intermediate server often contain statements requiring additional processing. For example, a reverse proxy server often needs to be implemented to rewrite (modify) URLs present in a web page description being sent to a client. Such a rewriting may be necessary, for example, to ensure that access to all resources using the web pages are channeled through the proxy server.
As is well known, such a feature may be used to control access (e.g., to enhance security) to various resources and to measure various metrics (e.g., number of accesses to the web page). Thus, it may be necessary to identify statements (in a web page description) requiring additional processing in intermediate web servers.